FACES/Lions Team Prepares for Peru Trip

FACES Foundation is preparing for their upcoming annual screening trip to northern Peru. The FACES team, Dr. Tom Albert, Kelly Jensen and Leah Olson, will be conducting the cleft screening clinics for possible surgical candidates from around the region. The team expects to screen between 70 to 90 patients, many of whom will be selected for surgery when the entire surgical team is in Peru in late January.

FACES has long partnered with several Peruvian Lions Clubs and they are now working with several Portland-area Lions clubs as well. Three Oregon Lions members, Dennis Tichenor, Merry Meek and Warren Heathman, are accompanying the FACES crew to Peru to scout out the potential for a new project. While Lions clubs are heavily invested in all sorts of service projects, they are especially focused on site and hearing. Because FACES has found that most patients with a cleft palate also have middle ear disease, the partnership was a natural progression from working with the Peru Lions.

This is set to be an exciting trip for all parties: the Portland Lions are bringing several audiometers, sight testing kits, as well as hundreds of pairs of glasses to give out to patients. The Oregon Lions will be teaching the Peruvian Lions how to properly use the audiometers to test for hearing problems, then will be working to the local club to purchase their own audiometers, so they may test indigent patients from all over the region.

FACES is extremely excited about this partnership and is so thankful for the incredible energy and enthusiasm from the Portland-area Lions clubs.

Be sure to stay tuned for the trip: it should be full of adventures! The team of six is departing Portland on November 27th, and returning on December 4th. You can follow along on our Facebook page, too, for continuous trip updates from the road.